


Uncle Alphard's Funeral

by PeregrineBones



Series: 1977 [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Coming Out, M/M, Marauders' Era, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 05:57:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7496535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeregrineBones/pseuds/PeregrineBones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius is mourning his Uncle Alphard, Remus helps him feel better, and James realizes his friends are more than friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Uncle Alphard's Funeral

Uncle Alphard was dead, and Sirius Black was upset.

Things had gotten so bad with his parents that they were no longer on speaking terms. Which was actually a good thing, because the fights had been terrible. But Uncle Alphard had been acting as a kind of substitute parent to Sirius and they had grown close. Alphard himself had been somewhat of an outcast among the Blacks. He could be crusty but he had a soft spot for his nephew, and Sirius had taken his death hard.

The manner of his death was also disturbing. He was found alone, his eyes wide open, not a mark on him. That could only be the Avada Kedavra curse, and that could only be the work of the death eaters. Sirius had known, vaguely, that Alphard was working against them. The death was being chalked up publicly to an unexpected heart attack, but Sirius and his friends knew better, and it brought the war closer to them with a chilling certainty. They had all been fond of Uncle Alphard.

On the evening Sirius returned from the funeral James knew he would be upset. When he heard from Nearly Headless Nick that Sirius was back, he went running up the stairs of Gryffindor tower to look for his friend. He threw open the door to the dormitory to find Sirius hunkered down on Remus' bed, his face buried in the other boy's neck But James hadn't really thought anything of that. The marauders all tumbled about together like puppies, had done so since they were young boys.

“Oh good Sirius you're back,” he said. “ Listen Pete and I thought we'd have a bonfire, just, you know, us. Oh and Lily and her mates are coming. Pete's gone down to the kitchens to snag some food and I thought you could help me get some wood together and Moony could get us some firewhiskey.” Remus, who got on well with the crotchety barman at the Hog's Head was usually their procurer.

Then Sirius lifted his face and James saw the tears streaking it, and he knelt by the bed and said kindly, “Oi, Sirius, mate, don't take on so, it'll be all right.” He put his arm around Sirius and patted his back. They stayed there for a little while, James kneeling by the bed and patting Sirius on the back, Sirius snuffling softly into Remus’ shoulder. He seemed to have gotten most of the crying over before James got there. After a few minutes of this James said, “Right then, Sirius, are you coming?”

“You go on, James,” said Remus. “ I'm just going to scritch Sirius up for a few more minutes. We'll be along.”

James just looked at him blankly. Remus said, softly but firmly, “Go on James. It’s all right.” And when James didn’t move he added. “It's just a canine thing.”

James stared at them, Sirius' head again buried against Remus' shoulder, Remus' fingers entwined in Sirius' hair. Without really thinking, James replied “Looks more like a gay thing to me.”

Remus met James’ eyes and Sirius looked up, guiltily. James felt a little ping in the back of his head, like something had shattered and filled his mind with a gentle buzz. He stared at his two friends, hunkered hip to hip in the bed, their arms around each other. Remus, his eyes locked on James’, took a deep breath and said quietly, “Ten points to Gryffindor, James.”

James just looked at them for a long moment, the words hanging in the air. Then he rose slowly and squeezed Sirius' shoulder one final time. “I'll see you later then,” he said and backed away from the bed as though it might explode. He suddenly wanted to find Lily badly.

Remus and Sirius heard the door click and James' footsteps descending the stairs, echoing in the silence that hung in the room. Remus felt a bit of hysterical laughter bubbling up and then they were both giggling. Which, all things considered was better than crying. Then they were kissing again, and it felt good, so good, and after a little while Sirius pulled away and looked at Remus with a strange shy look on his face and whispered, “I got us something.”

Remus raised an eyebrow quizzically at him. Sirius' face went red and he whispered, “Something for sex.” He seemed to be floundering for words. “For if we want to…... you know….” 

Remus gave him an amused half smile, the sort of look that said, what have you gotten us into now, and guessed, “Lube?'' and Sirius nodded, reddening further. Remus said “You got lube on the way home from your uncle's funeral?''

Sirius just nodded and said “Well, I was in town, you know and I had some time to kill before the train, so I …. got some.” He gave Remus a slightly pleading look.

“Well.....Okay. Good. I think” A pause where they looked at each other, uncertainly. Remus swallowed the urge to start giggling again. “Um, I think we'd best try to get to James' bonfire right now though. He might have a nervous breakdown if we don't”

“What about the whiskey?” asked Sirius.

“Come with me. You can get into the quidditch shed and we can take broomsticks.”

And so it was that a little while later two dark figures were running down the stairs to the great hall, slipping quietly out onto the moonlit lawn, and some time after that, two broomsticks ascended into the clear spring air toward Hogsmead.

The proprietor of the Hogs Head Inn had a soft spot for the polite Gryffindor who came to his door on occasion to buy a few pints of firewhiskey. He had a genuinely respectful manner, a quality rarely found in students from the school. So tonight, when Aberforth answered a soft knock on his back door to see Remus standing there he smiled, and returned swiftly with the requested bottles. It was a brief exchange, but as he accepted the coins from the young wizard he noticed another figure lurking in the background, and recognized him as Sirius Black, the rather wild son of an old pure blood family who had been disowned by his parents earlier that year for reasons unknown to the older wizard. Sirius did not come forward, but Aberforth watched from the darkened doorway as Remus handed the bottles off to his friend and the two exchanged a few words and a short laugh. They receded into the shadows and Aberforth heard a slight scuffle and a long silence before they took off again into the air. It was a beautiful night, clear, with a waxing moon and a scent of flowers, and Aberforth watched the two young wizards rise into the air and thought to himself “Oh ho, ho, young Remus has got something going on there.”

The bonfire was in full swing when they arrived and seemed to be attended by half of Gryffindor house as well as a smattering of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Butterbeers were being passed around; the air was fragrant with the smoke of gillyweed joints. Remus and Sirius with the firewhiskey in hand were greeted enthusiastically. Remus grabbed a butterbeer and accepted a joint that was passed to him, watching Sirius as he effortlessly merged into the crowd. James, Remus noticed, was sitting close to Lily, watching Sirius through narrowed eyes. A moment later, Peter threw his arm around Remus in greeting and drew him into a circle of Hufflepuff girls who seemed genuinely flattered by the older boys' attention. There were several charmed cakes floating around, bumping into people's heads until they took a slice, the scene was lit by a few of Zonko's Everlasting Fireworks, that wheeled and turned lazily in the air in the shape of dragons and serpents, and Remus relaxed into the congenial party atmosphere, the butterbeer mellowing him and the gillyweed making him feel a bit woozy. He got into an involved discussion with Marlene and Andy about prep strategies for their Defence Against the Dark Arts NEWT, a subject close to Remus' heart, and watched a game of charmed Bocce Balls out on the lawn which was being bet on energetically by a group of fifth year boys who leaned drunkenly against each other. The fire was burning low, people were starting to gather themselves to head back toward the castle and their warm beds, when Remus looked about for Sirius and saw him sitting, staring blankly into the embers of the fire, one of the firewhiskey bottles empty beside him. 

“Oh, Merlin,” he thought. He went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “All right Pads?”

“Heya Moony,” said Sirius, smiling drunkenly up at him and pulling him towards him.

Sirius was indeed drunk, very drunk , and Remus looked about for help, and caught James' eye and signaled him over. This was a time for Marauderly togetherness if ever there was one. Lily had apparently gone back to the castle with her mates, and Peter had disappeared into the woods with one of the pretty Hufflepuff girls he'd been talking to earlier.

“Up we get, then, Pads,” said James grabbing Sirius under the arm. Remus swung his other arm over his shoulder and they hoisted him between them and made their way unevenly across the pumpkin patch to the castle, Sirius singing a dirty limerick they had thought was outrageously funny when they were in their fourth year.

They hushed him as they entered the great hall. It was after curfew and, although seventh years were allowed a little more leeway in that regard than the rest of the school, their level of drunkenness would have caused them to be in trouble if they got caught. The walk through the dark castle up to Gryffindor tower seemed endless, Sirius now a nearly dead weight between them, but they encountered no one and the journey was uneventful except for a brief pause while Sirius vomited into a suit of armor. They got up to their room and got Sirius sprawled on his bed and almost immediately he was sick again. James stood against the door and watched as Remus grabbed a waste basket, held Sirius' head, wiped his mouth and James saw it, the tender solicitousness of Remus as he brushed Sirius' hair back, held a cup of water for him to sip, and laid him back on the bed. He saw the way Sirius grabbed for Remus' hand and held on tightly, trying to draw him down next to him and Remus, embarrassed pulled back. How could he not have seen it before? It was all gestures and body language he had seen a million times yet somehow different, with an added layer of meaning and, how long had this been going on? James realized it had been a while, it had been months ago it seemed , that Sirius had calmed down about him and Lily, started studying more with Remus in the library, had seemed more focused, somehow, less moody, and Remus more quietly confident, more content.

“I.... er... you can have the room tonight,” said James feeling his face grow hot. “I can...er... kip with Lily in the common room.”

“James, don't be stupid ,” said Remus. He gestured over at Sirius' inert body. ”Nothing is going to happen tonight. Go to bed.”

“No... I..... It's all right,” said James desperately. “It's fine. I don't mind. It's just Lily.... she'll be looking for me and....” and James was gone, shutting the door behind him.

Remus sighed and changed into pajamas and went to brush his teeth. He was a little buzzed still. It felt pleasant, as if he were enclosed in golden bubble and all worrying things were outside it and could not reach him. “What the hell,” he thought turning out the light. Sirius was breathing deeply. The moonlight coming in the window was dappling his features. He looked beautiful, Remus thought as he got into bed beside him and pulled the curtains shut around them. They had never slept in the same bed before. Remus curled his body around Sirius, drew him close with one arm. He nestled his face into the soft curls at the back of Sirius’ neck, breathed in the scent of him, and settled down to sleep.

Downstairs the common room was deserted. Lily had gone to bed, and James huddled by the hearth under one of the shawls that usually lay strewn about. He stared into the dying embers of the fire and it was a long time before he fell asleep.


End file.
